British Clandestine Activities in Romania during the Second World War

282 Pages·2016·1.037 MB·English

by  Dennis Deletant (auth.)

British Clandestine Activities
in Romania during the
Second World War
Dennis Deletant
British Clandestine Activities in Romania during
the Second World War
This page intentionally left blank
British Clandestine Activities
in Romania during the
Second World War
Dennis Deletant
Visiting‘IonRat¸iu’ProfessorofRomanianStudies,GeorgetownUniversity,USA
©DennisDeletant2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978–1–137–57451–0
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Deletant,Dennis,1946–
BritishClandestineActivitiesinRomaniaduringtheSecondWorldWar/Dennis
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Summary:“BritishClandestineActivitiesinRomaniaduringtheSecondWorldWaris
thefirstmonographtoexaminetheactivitythroughouttheentirewarofSOEand
MI6.ItwasgenerallybelievedinBritain’sWarOffice,afterHitler’soccupation
ofAustriainMarch1938,thatGermanywouldseektoimposeitswillonSouth-East
EuropebeforeturningitsattentiontowardsWesternEurope.GivenRomania’s
geographicalposition,therewaslittleBritaincouldofferher.Thebrutalfactof
British-RomanianrelationswasthatGermanywasinconvenientlyintheway:
opportunity,proximityofmanufactureandthelogisticsofsupplyalltoldinfavour
oftheThirdReich.Thisheld,ofcourse,formilitaryaswellaseconomicmatters.
InthesecircumstancestheBritishconcludedthattheironlyweaponagainstGerman
ambitionsincountrieswhichfellintoHitler’sorbitweremilitarysubversive
operationsandaconcomitantattempttodrawRomaniaoutofheralliance
withGermany”—Frompublisher’swebsite.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. WorldWar,1939–1945—Secretservice—GreatBritain. 2. WorldWar,
1939–1945—Undergroundmovements—Romania. 3. Subversiveactivities—
Romania—History—20thcentury. 4. Espionage,British—Romania—History—
20thcentury. 5. GreatBritain.SpecialOperationsExecutive—History.
6. GreatBritain.MI6—History—20thcentury. 7. GreatBritain—Relations—
Romania. 8. Romania—Relations—GreatBritain. I. Title.
D810.S7D452016
940.54(cid:2)864109498—dc23 2015026443
Contents
MapofRomania vii
Acknowledgements viii
BiographiesofKeyFigures x
ListofAbbreviations xxiii
Introduction 1
1 MissionAccomplished:TheCoupof23August1944 11
2 SettingtheScene:ProblemsofCohesion,1918–1938 27
3 TheDriftintoGermany’sOrbit:Romania,1938–1941 40
4 ThePreludetoHostilities:ProjectingBritaininRomania 60
5 ChallengingGermanAmbitions:ClandestineBritishMilitary
OperationsinRomania,1939–1941 66
6 ClandestineBritishOperationsinRomania,1942–1943 90
7 The‘Autonomous’Mission 107
8 MI6andRomania,1940–1945 119
9 TheEradicationofOppositiontoCommunistRule 132
10 CondemnedbutnotForgotten:TheFateofPro-British
ActivistsinRomania,1945–1964 155
Conclusion 169
Appendix1:NoteofaninterviewbetweenKingMichaelandaBritish
intelligenceofficermadebyHenrySpitzmuller,aFrenchdiplomat
whoremainedinRomaniaafterthefallofFrance 173
Appendix2:BiographyofEmil(Emilian)Bodna˘ras¸(1904–1976) 176
Appendix3:RudolfPander–interrogationreport7December1945,
MilitaryIntelligenceCenterUSFET,CI-IIR/35 179
v
vi Contents
Notes 181
SelectBibliography 235
Index 248
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vii
Acknowledgements
Withoutthesupportofnumerousfriendsandseveralinstitutionsthisstudy
would not have been completed. Among the latter I wish to thank The
British Academy for a Small Research Grant from the Elisabeth Barker
Fund. This enabled me to pursue research on this topic between 2006 and
2008 in Britain and Romania. The School of Slavonic and East European
Studies of University College, London, where I taught between 1969 and
2011, the University of Amsterdam, to which I was seconded for sev-
eral semesters between 2003 and 2010, and my present academic home,
Georgetown University, where since August 2011 I have the honour of
being the Ion Rat¸iu Visiting Professor of Romanian Studies, provided me
with travel grants to conduct research in Romania for this study. I owe
a particular debt to Georgetown University and Nicolae and Pamela
Rat¸iu of the Rat¸iu Foundation for their encouragement in my academic
endeavour.
Amongst my many friends in Romania I wish to thank first and fore-
mostGeorgeCipa˘ianuandhisbrotherEnea.Theyaremyinvaluableanchor
in Cluj-Napoca, extending a warm welcome in their home and providing
me with countless opportunities to review the progress of my study with
them and their colleagues at the Babes¸-Bolyai University, Ioan Piso, Liviu
T¸îra˘u, Ioan Ciupea, Marius Bucur, Gheorghe Mândrescu and S¸tefan Matei.
Special mention is deserved for Ottmar Tras¸ca of the Romanian Academy
‘GheorgheBarit¸iu’InstituteofHistoryinCluj-Napocawhosharedwithme
hisresearchintoGerman-RomanianrelationsduringtheSecondWorldWar,
while Virgiliu T¸âra˘u and Claudiu Secas¸iu of the National Council for the
Study of the Securitate Archives (CNSAS) in Bucharest facilitated access to
thefilesofRomania’swartimesecurityservices.Allthreehavedemonstrated
a generosity of spirit which transcends the bounds of formal contact and
Iextendtothemmywarmthanks.
InBucharest,familyfriendsMihaela,SanduandAnaHodos¸deservepartic-
ularmention.Withouttheirwarmhospitalityandstimulatingconversation
onallmattersRomanianIwouldnothavegainedthoseinsightswhichare
necessaryforasensitiveunderstandingofthecountry’spast.
S¸erban Papacostea, Ioan Chiper, Viorel Achim and Cristian Vasile of the
‘NicolaeIorga’InstituteofHistory,andAndreiMuraruandS¸tefanBosomitu
at the Institute for Investigation of the Crimes of Communism, helped me
to identify and access secondary Romanian literature and relevant journal
publications. I have drawn enormous benefit from the discussion of my
research with Dr Papacostea and Andrei Pippidi, both of whom I am hon-
ouredtocountasclosepersonalfriends.IntherecentpastArmandGos¸uand
viii
Acknowledgements ix
Dragos¸ Petrescu, head of the collegium of CNSAS, have offered perceptive
appreciationsofmyresearch.
InLondon,thelateIvorPorterwasaconstantreferencepointwhileAlan
Ogden generously discussed his research on the ‘Ranji’ mission with me.
Dan Brett, Irina Marin, Trevor Thomas, Martyn Rady, Radu Cinpoes¸ and
Alex Boican provided invaluable intellectual stimulation. In Washington
DC I was fortunate to receive precious insights into Romania of the 1940s
from my friends Ernest Latham, Mircea Ra˘ceanu, Radu Ioanid, Vladimir
Tisma˘neanu and the late Andrei Brezianu. Ruth Sulynn Taylor in Charles
Town,West Virginia,hasbeen agenerousandaffectionatehosttomy wife
and to me down the years. Angela Stent, the Director of the Center for
Eurasian,RussianandEastEuropeanStudiesatGeorgetownUniversity,Ben
Loring,herdeputy,andChristinaWatts,theCenter’sadministrativeofficer,
have leavened the invaluable support which they have given to my aca-
demic endeavours with charm and good humour. In the National Archives
andRecordsAdministrationinCollegePark,Maryland,AshbyCrowderand
AndreaZempwereexpertpilotsinhelpingmetonavigatethearchives.
An enormous debt is owed to Maurice Pearton. Maurice read the
manuscriptofthebookandhelpedtogiveititsfinalshape.Hisknowledge
andunderstandingof20th-centuryeconomicandpoliticalhistorysavedme
from a number of critical errors. I record here my gratitude for his unstint-
ing assistance and respect for his invaluable guidance in my research over
thelastthirtyyears.
For my wife Andrea I reserve my most profound thanks for her under-
standing and forbearance during frequent periods of self-imposed isolation
inmystudywhilstwritingthisbook.